15 killed when truck strikes hockey team’s bus in Canada
Junior hockey team was on its way to a playoff game.
NIPAWIN, SASKATCHEWAN — Fifteen people were killed and 14 others injured when a truck collided with a bus carrying a junior hockey team to a playoff game in western Canada, authorities said Saturday.
The bus driving the Humboldt Broncos had 29 passengers, including the driver, when it crashed at about 5 p.m. Friday on Highway 35 in Saskatchewan, Canadian police said.
The head coach, Darcy Haugan, and the team captain, Logan Schatz, are among the 15 dead, relatives said.
Three people are in critical condition.
“An entire country is in shock and mourning,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement. “Our national hockey family is a close one, with roots in almost every town — small and big — across Canada. Humboldt is no exception, and today the country and the entire hockey community stands with you.”
In a tweet, President Donald Trump said he called Trudeau to offer his condolences to the families of victims.
Kelly Schatz, Logan’s father, says his 20-year-old son played for the Broncos for just over four years and had served as team captain for the past 2½ years.
Meanwhile, tributes poured in online for Darcy Haugan, a father of two who was described as an amazing mentor to young players. The names of others killed have not been confirmed.
Darren Opp, president of the Nipawin Hawks, who the Broncos were set to play against, said a semi T-boned the players’ bus — an account police confirmed.
“It’s a horrible accident, my God,” Opp said.
The tragedy brought to mind an accident in 1986, when the Swift Current Broncos team bus slid off an icy highway and crashed in late December, killing four players.
The Humboldt Broncos are a close-knit team from the small city of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which has a population of about 6,000. Many gathered at the community center at the hockey arena there after word of the horrific crash began to circulate.
Humboldt Mayor Rob Muench, wearing a green and yellow Broncos team jersey, hugged people Saturday morning as they came to the Elger Petersen Arena in the Saskatchewan town to comfort each other and learn more.
“It’s overwhelming. It’s been tough on everybody,” Muench said. “We’re a small community, some of those kids have been on the team for a number of years. A lot grew up in the community and everybody knows each other.”
The team was on its way to play in Game 5 of a semi-final against the Nipawin Hawks.
“Hockey was what brought us all together and we had two communities that were rivals in the rink. To find out that it was their first responders that aided our boys just warms your heart,” the mayor said as his voice cracked.
Many people wandered in and out of the arena throughout the morning. In a separate area, multiple crisis workers were assisting.
“Everybody is just so devastated. These poor young boys,” said Penny Lee, the communications manager for the town of Humboldt
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a junior ‘A’ hockey league under Hockey Canada, which is part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It’s open to North American-born players between the ages of 16 and 20.
Team President Kevin Garinger said parents from across western Canada were struggling to cope with the tragedy and were rushing to the scene.
“Our whole community is in shock, we are grieving and we will continue to grieve throughout this ordeal as we try to work toward supporting each other,” he said.
Michelle Straschnitzki, who lives in Airdrie, Alberta, said her 18-year old son Ryan was transported to a hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
“We talked to him, but he said he couldn’t feel his lower extremities so I don’t know what’s going on,” she said.”
Opp, the president of the Hawks, said the coaching staff and players from their team were waiting to help.
“They are sitting in the church just waiting to hear any good news,” he said.
Pastor Jordan Gadsby at the Apostolic Church in Nipawin said more than a hundred people had gathered at the church — including parents and grandparents of the players who were on the bus.